Fernando Odriozola (Oviedo, Espanha 1921 - São Paulo SP 1986)
Fernando Odriozola was a painter, draftsman and printmaker. He began painting in 1936. In 1953, he moved to Brazil and settled in São Paulo. The following year, he held his first solo exhibition at Galeria Portinari. In 1955, the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM/SP) devoted a solo exhibition to him. In the 1960s, he taught at the Instituto de Arte Contemporânea of the Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado (Faap) and worked as an illustrator for the newspapers O Estado de S. Paulo and Diário de S. Paulo, as well as for the magazine Habitat. In 1964, he joined the Grupo Austral — alongside Wesley Duke Lee (1931–2010), Yo Yoshitome (1925) and Bin Kondo (1937) —, linked to the international Phases movement.
At the 8th São Paulo International Biennial, in 1965, he received the award for best national draftsman, which earned him a special room at the following edition of the event. In the year of his death, 1986, the Centro Cultural São Paulo (CCSP) held a posthumous retrospective exhibition in his honor.
Critical Commentary
Fernando Odriozola's works share an aura of mysticism and mystery. The moon is present in many of them, sometimes as a luminous halo, sometimes as a black circle in eclipse, sometimes as a waning silhouette. This celestial body hovering above everything, which seems to rule these canvases, is like a reminder that, besides observing, viewers are also observed. In terms of composition, in Odriozola's paintings the moon also appears as a fixed counterpoint to what is in the foreground: in some cases, one sees the suggestion of animal figures, executed with almost calligraphic strokes; in others, abstract brushstrokes made in a quick and vibrant manner stand out against the background, generally painted in subdued tones.
These paintings seem to demand from the viewer a work of organization through the gaze, a commitment to the effort of relating the terms of the enigma in order to decipher it. Thus, the paintings convey the sensation that their elements, suspended in the composition, await the necessary activation by the observer. The suggested forms and figures - rendered in faded tones and light contours - thus emerge as visual links whose function is to connect the viewer's own imagination to that of the artist.
Critiques
"Over the years, the work of Fernando Odriozola has become, each day, ever more an exercise of consciousness, of a consciousness at once acute and grave; acute because lyrical; grave because also epic. His spaces are his way of falling silent, and such silences remind us of a simple line by the poet Jules Vallès: 'Space has always made me silent'. Fernando Odriozola uses the visual space of his compositions to compose his sonata of hope, in the alchemical belief that everyone will perceive his colors of magus and sorcerer, colors that speak of nature (...). It may seem strange, but it is this inner immensity of Odriozola's that gives true meaning to certain visual expressions in his works. One cannot stand before his drawings or paintings without undergoing a kind of magic that leads us to meditation; not the meditation of the gurus industrialized by the metropolises, but that of the ancient priests of sects as mysterious as they are implausible. In such reveries, which manage to take hold of the meditative man, details fade away, as happens in Odriozola's works. Time hides and space extends, infinitely, for it is nothing but a dialogue between two immensities".
Alberto Beuttenmuller
FERNANDO Odriozola. Apresentação de Alberto Beuttenmuller. São Paulo: Galeria Alberto Bonfiglioli, 1979.
Solo Exhibitions
1954 - São Paulo SP - First solo exhibition, at Galeria Portinari
1955 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at MAM/SP
1957 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Ambiente
1967 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Astreia
1972 - São Paulo SP - Retrospectiva Ateliê 376 [Ateliê 376 Retrospective], at Galeria Exclusiva
1976 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Astreia
1979 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Bonfiglioli
1981 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Trilha
Group Exhibitions
1956 - Mostra do Retrato Moderno [Modern Portrait Exhibition]
1958 - São Paulo SP - 7th São Paulo Salon of Modern Art, at Galeria Prestes Maia - acquisition prize
1958 - São Paulo SP - Leirner Contemporary Art Prize, at Galeria de Arte das Folhas - 2nd prize in drawing
1959 - São Paulo SP - Leirner Contemporary Art Prize, at Galeria de Arte das Folhas - 2nd prize in drawing
1960 - São Paulo SP - Leirner Collection, at Galeria de Arte das Folhas
1960 - São Paulo SP - Nelson Leirner, Ismênia Coaracy, Yara Tupynambá, Fernando Odriozola, at Galeria de Arte das Folhas
1962 - Curitiba PR - Paraná Salon, at Biblioteca Pública do Paraná
1962 - Santos SP - Santos Salon - silver medal
1962 - São Paulo SP - Selection of Brazilian Artworks from the Ernesto Wolf Collection, at MAM/SP
1963 - Campinas SP - Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, at Museu Carlos Gomes
1963 - São Paulo SP - 7th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal - acquisition prize
1964 - São Paulo SP - Exposição Phases [Phases Exhibition], at MAC/USP
1965 - São Paulo SP - 8th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal - best national draftsman prize
1966 - Tokyo (Japan) - 7th Tokyo Biennial
1967 - São Paulo SP - 9th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1967 - São Paulo SP - Grupo Austral do Movimento Phases [Austral Group of the Phases Movement], at MAC/USP
1970 - São Paulo SP - 2nd Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1972 - Curitiba PR - 29th Paraná Salon, at Teatro Guaíra
1973 - São Paulo SP - 12th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1973 - São Paulo SP - 5th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1975 - Penápolis SP - 1st Noroeste Visual Arts Salon, at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis. Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Penápolis
1975 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Communication According to Visual Artists
1975 - São Paulo SP - 13th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1976 - Penápolis SP - 2nd Noroeste Visual Arts Salon, at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis. Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Penápolis
1976 - São Paulo SP - Exposição dos Imigrantes [Exhibition of Immigrants], at Masp
1977 - São Paulo SP - 14th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal - Itamaraty acquisition prize
1978 - Penápolis SP - 3rd Noroeste Visual Arts Salon, at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis. Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Penápolis
1978 - São Paulo SP - Construtivistas e Figurativos da Coleção Theon Spanudis [Constructivists and Figuratives from the Theon Spanudis Collection], at Centro de Artes Porto Seguro
1979 - São Paulo SP - 15th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1979 - São Paulo SP - Coleção Theon Spanudis [Theon Spanudis Collection], at MAC/USP
1980 - Penápolis SP - 4th Noroeste Visual Arts Salon, at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis. Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Penápolis
1981 - São Paulo SP - Arte Transcendente [Transcendent Art], at MAM/SP
1982 - Penápolis SP - 5th Noroeste Visual Arts Salon, at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis. Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Penápolis
1983 - Curitiba PR - Mostra do Desenho Brasileiro 5 [Brazilian Drawing Exhibition 5], at Teatro Guaíra
1983 - São Paulo SP - 14th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1985 - Penápolis SP - 6th Noroeste Visual Arts Salon, at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis. Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Penápolis
1985 - São Paulo SP - 100 Itaú Works, at Masp
1985 - São Paulo SP - 18th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
Posthumous Exhibitions
1986 - São Paulo SP - Retrospective, at CCSP
1987 - São Paulo SP - The Biennials in the MAC Collection: 1951 to 1985, at MAC/USP
1987 - São Paulo SP - Exhibition at Galeria Ars Artis
1987 - São Paulo SP - The Craft of Art: Painting, at Sesc
1989 - São Paulo SP - 7th Arte Litoral Norte [North Coast Art], at Sadalla Galeria de Arte
1989 - São Paulo SP - Pintura Brasil Século XX: obras do acervo do Banco Itaú [Brazilian Painting of the 20th Century: Works from the Banco Itaú Collection], at Itaugaleria
1989 - São Paulo SP - Verdes Mares [Green Seas], at Sadalla Galeria de Arte
1989 - Ubatuba SP - 7th Arte Litoral Norte [North Coast Art], at Fundação de Arte e Cultura
1990 - Chicago (United States) - Brazil: Crossroads of Modern Art, at Randolph Gallery
1990 - Chicago (United States) - Expressões Singulares da Arte Brasileira [Singular Expressions of Brazilian Art], at Chicago Cultural Center
1991 - Belo Horizonte MG - Dois Retratos da Arte [Two Portraits of Art], at MAP
1991 - Brasília DF - Dois Retratos da Arte [Two Portraits of Art], at Museu Histórico e Diplomático. Palácio Itamaraty
1991 - Curitiba PR - Dois Retratos da Arte [Two Portraits of Art], at Fundação Cultural de Curitiba. Solar do Barão
1991 - Porto Alegre RS - Dois Retratos da Arte [Two Portraits of Art], at Margs
1991 - Recife PE - Dois Retratos da Arte [Two Portraits of Art], at Museu do Estado de Pernambuco
1991 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Dois Retratos da Arte [Two Portraits of Art], at MAM/RJ
1991 - Salvador BA - Dois Retratos da Arte [Two Portraits of Art], at Museu de Arte da Bahia
1991 - São Paulo SP - Dois Retratos da Arte [Two Portraits of Art], at MAC/USP
1993 - Niterói RJ - MAC e as Bienais: Uma Seleção de Gravuras e Desenhos [MAC and the Biennials: A Selection of Prints and Drawings]
1993 - São Paulo SP - MAC e as Bienais: Uma Seleção de Gravuras e Desenhos [MAC and the Biennials: A Selection of Prints and Drawings], at MAC/USP
1993 - São Paulo SP - Obras Para Ilustração do Suplemento Literário: 1956-1967 [Works for Illustrating the Literary Supplement: 1956-1967], at MAM/SP
1994 - São Paulo SP - Bienal Brasil Século XX, at Fundação Bienal
1995 - São Paulo SP - Espanhóis no Acervo do MAC [Spaniards in the MAC Collection], at MAC/USP
1996 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Art: 50 Years of History in the MAC/USP Collection: 1920-1970, at MAC/USP
1997 - São Paulo SP - Phases: surrealismo e contemporaneidade - Grupo Austral e Cone Sul [Phases: Surrealism and Contemporaneity - Austral Group and Southern Cone], at MAC/USP
1998 - São Paulo SP - Impressions: The Art of Brazilian Printmaking, at Espaço Cultural Banespa-Paulista
2001 - São Paulo SP - Bienal 50 Years: A Tribute to Ciccillo Matarazzo, at Fundação Bienal
Source: Itaú Cultural
